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1) Disappointing stuff today, in short, what went wrong?

@AlexRDownes - The midfield. Firstly, I think our midfield was just pressed to death. Spurs midfield just hurried us from start to finish. Our team set out with the mentality of stay compact and reserved. Spurs pressing us made nervous and it showed in our touches and passes. Secondly, Coquelin tried his best to protect Santi and make up the 90 minute brainfart that Ramsey had, but he's just one man. Ramsey was badly out of form today and essentially it meant we were playing with just Coq and Santi for a long time.

@IronMan_AV - Attitude. Almost like they thought Spurs wouldn't try. Dare I say, taking the lead didn't help. They thought they could simply sit on that and that unfortunately wasn't the case.

@stevenckc - The midfield got absolutely walked over. Possession given away cheaply, all 5 couldn't keep the ball, wingers not helping the full backs enough, and this allowed Spurs to dominate the game from start to finish.

@TomTheGunner - Our approach wasn't actually wrong for the game, away from home we were quite wise to sit tight defensively. However, it went wrong when we did eventually gain possession, we had about a third of possession today and were far too clumsy with it - Coquelin was our best passer with only 78% pass success. We were unable to get any form of passing move going, and as such invited more pressure onto ourselves, and with not many people willing to do the leg work and break beyond the pressure, we were stuck in our own third for long periods.

2) What was the difference between the performance at Manchester City not so long ago compared to today?

@AlexRDownes - City didn't press us anywhere near as much as Spurs did today.

@IronMan_AV - A combo of Spurs being more determined than City and us resting on our laurels thinking we could repeat that performance like for like. Instead, we couldn't replicate it because football isn't that simple. There isn't a one size fits all tactic for all games that will guarantee victory. Needed to adapt but didn't.

@stevenckc - As I said previously, the midfield just didn't turn up today like they did the City game. We allowed the Tottenham midfield too much of the ball, whereas during the City game, we kept it tight, let Santi keep possession, ran the game, and kept City's midfield quiet.

@TomTheGunner - Primarily, Santi Cazorla. He was sensational against City - scoring, assisting and generally controlling the game, but relatively quiet today. Secondly, willing runners. Against City, when we counter attacked we had Ramsey, Chamberlain, Sanchez, Giroud and Cazorla all willing to get forward and today we only had Welbeck who looked willing to break away in attack.

3) Did you have any issue with the team selection?

@AlexRDownes - None per se. In retrospect, Cazorla for Rosicky. I think Rosicky would've brought a bit more structure to our midfield.

@IronMan_AV - Don't want to single out anyone as it was a collective shambles but for me, Ramsey doesn't warrant his place in the side for games like this at present. He's got lots of credit in the bank from last season so his poorer performances this time round are being ignored. This is detrimental to the team.

@stevenckc - I thought Rosicky should've been given a shout, probably in place of Ozil, but given the solid comeback from injury he's had, I wouldn't had mind him. it's really a decision between the practicality of Rosicky vs the form of Ozil. Arsene went for the latter.

@TomTheGunner - Not hugely, despite having a strong I thought we started the right eleven. I questioned the starting of Welbeck over Walcott, but I suppose both were short in terms of match fitness and Welbeck (hypothetically) should have provided more defensive cover, and did provide the chance for our goal, so was probably the wise choice.

4) Which players let us down today?

@AlexRDownes - Aaron Ramsey. Let us down very badly.

@IronMan_AV - Same answer as above. Almost all culpable but at times when we needed to retain possession, we couldn't and Ramsey was arguably the biggest culprit.

@TomTheGunner - This is the strange one, because we actually can't pin the defeat today to any one player. You could blame Koscielny for losing focus for Kane's winner, or Ospina for palming the ball to Kane from the corner, but I think that would be harsh. In a similar way to the 2-0 loss to Southampton, this was more a case of nobody really turning up.

5) Did anyone play well today?

@AlexRDownes - I think Coquelin played the best of all the players. He tried to do his job and beyond.

@IronMan_AV - Ospina. But when your keeper plays a blinder that only points to problems elsewhere.

@stevenckc - I thought there wasn't really a stand out performance from anyone, it was a pretty average game overall that was marred with a bad performance from the midfield.

@TomTheGunner - The one player that stood out for me was Nacho Monreal. Monreal has been the most consistent player in our back four this season, and looked really confident today. Nacho covered well, and made some good interceptions.

6) Would you change anything for Leicester City in midweek?

@AlexRDownes - Theo for Welbeck.

@IronMan_AV - Not especially. Easy to be reactionary & suggest full scale changes but I expect regardless of who is selected, we'll be far more positive and should get the job done against a team like Leicester.

@stevenckc - Not really, no. We've been fine against weaker sides as of late, it's the so called big teams that we've not been beating week in, week out that's the issue.

@TomTheGunner - Yes. We have to be careful not to rotate too much, considering that we only managed to draw against Leicester first time around, but I'd start Walcott instead of Welbeck, and be tempted to start Rosicky - but not sure who we would sacrifice. I'd like to have some more directness back in the team in the form of Chamberlain or Sanchez, but if it is too early for them, I imagine we would be able to beat Leicester without them. If we had beaten Spurs I'd have suggested maybe giving Gabriel his first start, but I think that would be ill-advised as a win is now crucial to keep hopes of top four alive.

7) Any other thoughts?

@AlexRDownes - Ospina needs to push the ball wide instead of in front of him.

@IronMan_AV -

- Losing is crap but losing to Spurs feels infinitely worse.

- Massive worry that City was the exception rather than the rule & our timid approach to big away matches is ingrained.

- Looks like we're in a battle for 4th yet again and after so many years, it's getting boring.

@stevenckc - I'd just like to say, though Coquelin and Ospina has done well as of late, we really shouldn't judge them based on just a few good performances. Francis though a good tackler, isn't a dominating, holder of the ball while Ospina like we've seen today, was a bunch of nerves and kept palming the ball into the wrong areas. I just feel we may get found out of these in the long run.

@TomTheGunner - Harry Kane is a brilliant example of someone who works hard, and gets the reward. Two goals against the club that released him when he was 8 showcased his determination to succeed, and despite not being the quickest, or the most skillful, he always finds a way to get a chance to score. Similar to Ramsey last season, it will be interesting to see if he can continue the goal scoring next season.

So let me stop reminiscing of days gone by and let me focus on our Welsh wonder. Let me start off by saying that I think it is quite obvious that Aaron Ramsey is better in central midfield. His partnership with Mesut Özil, his running from deep and his underrated ball winning ability makes him a ...Read more